New Technology Research Lab Opens in Hamilton

By Emmanuelle Brière
March 2011

Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetMATERIALS at McMaster Innovation Park (architectural rendering).

It’s official: Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) CanmetMATERIALS was inaugurated on February 23, 2011. The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, cut the ribbon at this brand new state-of-the-art lab in McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) in Hamilton, Ontario, in the company of key stakeholders, including officials from McMaster University, MIP, the City of Hamilton and representatives from academia and industry from across the region.

Why Move the Laboratory?

Cutting the ribbon to open the new state-of-the-art facility.

Hamilton and southwestern Ontario are at the centre of the Canadian manufacturing sector, serving as home to many important industries and research organizations specializing in the automobile industry, next-generation steels, energy production and other value-added products. As a national user facility supporting research and development in advanced materials and innovative processing, CanmetMATERIALS is now in a highly strategic region with easy access to approximately ten times more prospective users than was the case in Ottawa. The regional user base also includes four major partnering universities and eight colleges. In this environment, the lab will serve as an anchor for a cluster in manufacturing innovation whose reach will extend across the country, enabling Canada to become more competitive on the global market.

(from left) Dr. Jason Lo, Program Manager, Emerging Materials, and Dr. Jennifer Jackman, Director General, CanmetMATERIALS, offer a lab tour to senior officials.

Stimulating Research and Innovation

CANMET-MTL’s research activities are aimed at finding materials-based solutions for Canada’s energy, transportation and metal manufacturing sectors, which support industries that employ more than 450,000 Canadians.

To fulfil this objective, the lab is in the process of drawing together a pool of scientific and technical talent from the public and private sectors and graduates from top-notch universities. Recruiting efforts are well underway to find approximately 60 people to fill the positions left vacant due to the relocation.

As new hires continue to arrive, the lab will grow into its role to better support the competitiveness of Canadian industry through its research and development on metals and alloys, metal composites, metal powders and enabling technologies — such as production, coating, welding — for product manufacturing.

The lab’s relocation will also increase Canada’s technological capacity in critical areas of research for new materials. For instance, with its more modern equipment, CanmetMATERIALS will be able to focus its research on ecomaterials that have minimal impacts on the environment while maintaining business productivity.

Senior officials tour the mechanical testing lab in CanmetMATERIALS's new facility.

CanmetMATERIALS will continue to offer its full range of business support programs, such as the Vehicle Structural Materials Research Program; the Pipelines Research Program; the Emerging Materials Research Program; the Academic User Program: Resource for the Innovation of Engineered Materials; and the Materials for Nuclear and Conventional Energy Research Program. CanmetMATERIALS also houses the Government of Canada’s Non-Destructive Testing Certifying Agency, a key service that has been in existence for over 50 years.

A Green Research Centre

The new research centre will shine for its ecoenergy facilities as well as its innovative research. Energy experts from NRCan’s CanmetENERGY participated in the planning of the centre in order to achieve the highest performance levels for energy and water management and indoor environmental quality. As a result of its outstanding design, the building is a LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) Platinum certification candidate.

For more information on CanmetMATERIALS’s roles and activities, visit the Materials Technology section of the Minerals and Metals Sector website. Visit this web page from our newsletter to view pictures and interactive explanations of the energy saving features of the new facility. For further details on the new facilities in Hamilton, visit our Media Room.

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